Psychology Commons^™

Understanding But Unhelpful: Do Grateful People Value Responsiveness Or Perceived Benefit When Receiving Help?, Elizabeth Lim

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Two studies examined the links between the grateful disposition, cognitive appraisals (perceived value and perceived responsiveness), state gratitude, and affiliative intentions (one’s desire to build or maintain relationships with his/her benefactor). In Study 1, 248 participants went through a guided scenario task where they recalled help experiences that were helpful and not so helpful. Dispositional gratitude predicted perceived value and perceived responsiveness (H1A and H1B). These cognitive appraisals in turn predicted state gratitude (H2 and H3). Finally, state gratitude predicted affiliative intentions (H4). Supporting H5A and H5B, cognitive appraisals and state gratitude mediated the link between dispositional gratitude and affiliative …

The Effects Of Reinforcer Absence And Availability Of Alternative Activity On Delay Of Gratification In Children With Autism, Hailey Rose Prechtel

Theses and Dissertations

An increase in delay tolerance can help individuals obtain more preferred items, activities, and interactions. There are also many situations in a young child's daily life in which they cannot have immediate access to items, activities, or attention that they might be seeking. This can often lead to problem behavior and a longer time to wait for the desired item. Strategies that increase self-controlled responding may help individuals make choices and respond appropriately to receive a better outcome. This study examined the effects of self-control techniques such as removing an item, and interaction with an alternative activity on a child’s …

Teaching Rule-Governed Behavior To Children With Autism, Alicia Mingione

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to teach rule-governed behavior to children with autism. Few studies have examined rule-governed behavior in children with autism. Of the few studies that exist, results have shown that using behavior-consequence rules produce quicker acquisition of learning than using antecedent-behavior rules. In the current study, participants were given two behavior-consequence rules, one resulting in the presentation of a preferred or nonpreferred consequence and the other resulting in avoidance of that consequence. The percentage of rules followed independently and correctly was measured. A constant prompt delay was implemented due to the lack of progress. However, some participants began exhibiting …

Efficacy Of Acceptance And Commitment Training (Act) In A Tele-Health Format To Treat Individuals With An Eating Disorder, Morgan Angel

All NMU Master's Theses

Disordered eating is a serious condition which affects an individual’s mental and physical health (Donaldson & Gordon, 2015; Forney et al., 2016). Patients exhibiting the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder are most commonly treated through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and, more specifically, enhanced CBT (CBT-E). Recent studies have evaluated Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) in reducing disordered eating behaviors and increasing psychological flexibility, demonstrating positive patient outcomes (Berman, Boutelle, & Crow, 2009; Juarascio et al., 2013; Hill et al., 2015; Hill et al., 2020). The purpose of the present study is to further evaluate ACT as an effective treatment …

The Connection Between The Disconnects: Exploring Process Redesign To Reduce Human Error, Missy Carol Vergason

Theses and Dissertations

It has been said that organizations are only as effective as their processes. However, often times organizational behavior management (OBM) utilizes performance management to resolve issues as opposed to Behavioral Systems Analysis (BSA), which encompasses process redesign to ensure processes operate efficiently. Ultimately, to assist in long-term beneficial changes, process redesign could be helpful for allowing performers to have the resources to benefit from the enhanced process. However, little research has been done that assesses performance change with disconnects removed or with the addition of automation in a controlled laboratory setting. Thus, the current study examined the effects of a …

Effects Of Instructive Feedback On Gustatory Relations, Natàlia Arasa Bonavila

Theses and Dissertations

Differentiating tastes is important for safety reasons; being able to discriminate flavors could prevent an individual from eating unsafe items. The association of taste, color, and texture of different foods is important for safety reasons as it provides a base knowledge of safe foods. As some people with autism have problems communicating what they see, hear, touch, feel, or taste, the association of color, texture, and taste will promote healthy choices. Most of the research on tact acquisition has focused on visual stimuli. However, this study attempted to teach children to tact gustatory stimuli and evaluated the effects of instructive …

Embedding Reinforcement In Choice Making During Free Play In Children With Asd, Julianne Isabella Fernandez

Theses and Dissertations

The present study evaluated the effects of embedded reinforcement and satiation procedures on activity preferences in a small group setting of four children diagnosed with ASD. This study is a systematic replication of Hanley et al (2009) in which researchers used the same procedures to evaluate time allocation and activity preferences of neurotypical children in the classroom during free play. The goal of this study was to see if the results of the original study would generalize to children diagnosed with autism. Satiation procedures resulted in the slight increase of engagement in the highest preferred activity zone with some overlap …

The Effects Of Training On Parent-Implemented Multiple Stimulus Preference Assessments Without Replacement, Marlene Hernandez Correa

Theses and Dissertations

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit restricted interests and communication deficits; hence, identifying potential reinforcers can be challenging. Using multiple stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessments is a practical way for practitioners working with this population to identify potential reinforcers. Previous research has found that inexperienced staff can learn to implement preference assessments using enhanced instructions only (i.e., detailed written information, diagrams, and pictures) without needing feedback (Graff and Karsten, 2012b). However, researchers have yet to examine whether enhanced instructions alone impact other populations' repertoires, such as parents, similarly, or if this training is effective across cultures. Incorporating …

Evaluating Matrix Training To Teach Children With Autism To Tact Private Events, Abbi Dell Lee

Theses and Dissertations

The research on teaching tacts has primarily focus on visual stimuli, with relatively little attention to teaching tacts of nonvisual stimuli. The present study extended the literature to different types of tactile stimulation by teaching 2-component tacts of body-part sensation combinations in the presence of tactile stimulation. Multiple objects were used to produce the sensations to encourage generalization. Two additional exemplars for each sensation were probed for generalization to novel objects. The experimenters used matrix training, in which target responses were arranged in such a way as to facilitate recombinative generalization to untrained combinations. We arranged 6 body part targets …

Comparing The Effects Of Noncontingent Reinforcement And Environmental Enrichment On Problem Behavior Maintained By Automatic Reinforcement, Mary Llinas

Theses and Dissertations

Environmental enrichment (EE) and noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) are common behavior analytic interventions used to decrease problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. Both EE and NCR involve noncontingent access to preferred or competing stimuli, however, access to stimuli is intermittent (typically on a fixed-time [FT] schedule) in NCR, while in EE, the stimuli are continuously available. Despite the research on their effectiveness at reducing problem behavior, they have not been compared. The purpose of the current study was to compare the effectiveness of different schedules of reinforcement at decreasing automatically maintained problem behavior (stereotypy) and anxiety exhibited by two children with …

Teaching Individuals To Tact The Intensity Of Sensations, Sandhya Rajagopal

Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare professionals frequently ask individuals to use numerical rating scales to rate their pain intensity; therefore, reporting the intensity of private sensations is an important skill. Yet individuals with autism often have difficulty reporting sensations. Using a multiple baseline design across stimulus sets in the pilot experiment and Experiment 1, a multiple probe design across participants in Experiment 2, and a multiple probe design across stimulus sets in Experiment 3, the present study investigated a method of teaching typically developing adults and children and one child with autism to report the intensity of tactile sensations rough, tight, heavy, and temperature. …

Implementation Of Behavior Skills Training Via Telehealth To Teach Pre-Session Pairing To Caregivers Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Le-E Chin

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to extend the literature on training procedures used in telehealth and extend the literature on caregiver training. This study utilized a multiple-baseline design to implement behavior skills training to teach pre-session pairing skills to 2 parents/caregivers in Malaysia via telehealth. This study also examined the cultural social validity of pre-session pairing as a preventative procedure in therapeutic settings outside of the United States. Results demonstrated that behavior skills training with an additional component of specific performance feedback was effective to train participants up to mastery criteria. Social validity results indicated an increase in positive interactions between parent/caregiver …

To Switch Or Not To Switch: Individual Differences In Executive Function And Emotion Regulation Flexibility, Wei Xing Toh

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Emotion regulation (ER) constitutes strategies that modulate the experience and expression of emotions. While past work has predominantly focused on each ER strategy independently, recent research has begun to examine individual-difference factors that are associated with the flexible implementation of ER strategies in line with environmental demands (i.e., ER flexibility). Considering that ER processes generally implicate executive function (EF)—a collection of adaptive, general-purpose control processes—it is plausible that EF could be involved in ER flexibility. Using a latent-variable approach based on a comprehensive battery of EF tasks, the present study investigated how the various aspects of EF (i.e., common EF, …

Analysis Of Demand Under Time And Quantity Restriction Frames, Haily K. Traxler

Dissertations

For decades, behavioral economists and behavior analysts have borrowed techniques from one another to investigate human decision making. While there has been little overlap in their work, the union of the two may help to answer important questions about behavior. An emerging behavioral economic topic of interest in the behavior analytic literature is the analysis of how framing affects demand. The purpose of the present studies is to investigate some conditions under which demand is affected by framing and provide a behavior analytic interpretation of those effects. To assess the effects of framing, demand for marketplace items was assessed under …

Exploring Tactile Art-Making With Deafblind Students And Their Families: An Opportunity For Creative Play, Alice Rodgers

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The impact of a deafblind diagnosis on an individual’s mental health and the well-being of the family involved can be profound. However, current research and available literature for the mental health treatment and therapy practices of deafblind persons and their families is limited (Kyzar et al., 2016; “WFDB Global Report 2018,” n.d.). This thesis used the Leeds Family Psychology and Therapy Service principles (Leeds FPTS) and the Expressive Therapies Continuum with established deafblind teaching strategies to facilitate an original arts-based community project entitled: “Things We Like.” This project provided an opportunity for deafblind students (ages three to 22) and their …

The Role Of Aesthetics In Classroom Design: Implications For Engagement And Equity, Giuliana Barraza

Master's Theses

The desire for achieving greater equity in education has been a prevalent topic of research, with many studies indicating that the current education system in this country is designed in a way that exacerbates initial inequities and has a negative impact on student motivation and engagement (EOCD, 2012). While existing scholarship mostly discusses equity and engagement through the lens of curriculum and instruction, the power of physical classroom environments and aesthetic elements present in those environments is less explored. With student populations becoming more diverse, there is a greater need for new tools for teachers to utilize in pursuit of …

An Evaluation Of Trial-Based Functional Analyses Of Inappropriate Mealtime Behavior, Ashley Andersen

Theses & Dissertations

Functional analyses allow clinicians to develop treatment targeting the variables maintaining a child’s inappropriate mealtime behavior (Bachmeyer et al., 2019). Extended functional analyses can be inefficient, potentially delaying the onset of treatment. Researchers have suggested a trial-based functional analysis can increase assessment efficiency (Saini, Fisher, et al., 2019). This study compared trial-based functional analyses to extended functional analyses to determine the variables maintaining inappropriate mealtime behavior. We compared the efficiency and acceptability and evaluated treatments informed by the analyses. Exact correspondence between analyses was low (29%); however, most treatments indicated by the trial-based functional analyses (71%) resulted in improvements in …

Indices Of Happiness And Unhappiness During Treatment Of Pediatric Feeding Disorders, Laura Elizabeth Phipps

Theses & Dissertations

To date, there is no research on the measurement or evaluation of indices of happiness and unhappiness for children receiving behavior-analytic treatment for feeding disorders. The purpose of the current study was to measure child indices of happiness and unhappiness before and during extinction-based treatment and to evaluate the effects of noncontingent reinforcement with extinction-based treatment on indices of happiness and unhappiness. Overall, indices of happiness were idiosyncratic, and indices of unhappiness were initially higher during extinction without noncontingent reinforcement compared to with noncontingent reinforcement. Percentage of acceptance increased for all participants during both treatments, and caregiver treatment acceptability was …

A Functional Analysis Of Physical Activity In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Nicole Ramirez

Thesis Projects

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2017) recognizes the staggering rates of obesity affecting children and adolescents in the United States. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a higher risk of obesity than neurotypical children (Kahathuduwa et al., 2019). The CDC (2017) acknowledges the lack of physical activity as a major factor leading to obesity. This investigation aims to determine the effectiveness of a reinforcer in increasing the levels of physical activity in children diagnosed with ASD. A subsequent aim is to address a measurement limitation identified in Knerr (2020) by using both an observation recording system as …

Phase Duration And Resurgence, Sean Smith

Theses & Dissertations

Resurgence, the recurrence of responding due to a worsening of reinforcement conditions for current behavior, is a prevalent form of treatment relapse. Resurgence as Choice in Context predicts that increasing the duration of exposure to reinforcement for target responding during Phase 1 will increase resurgence magnitude, whereas increasing the duration of exposure to reinforcement for alternative responding and extinction for target responding during Phase 2 will decrease resurgence magnitude. We conducted an experiment evaluating these predictions with human participants recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform. We varied Phase 1 and Phase 2 durations across four experimental groups. Resurgence as Choice …

Predicting Reinforcers To Increase Physical Activity In Young Children With Obesity Using The Six-Minute Walk Test, Jordan D. Lill

Theses & Dissertations

Childhood obesity continues to be a significant public health problem in the United States in which approximately 8% to 12% of American children are obese (Cunningham, Kramer, & Narayan, 2014; Mirza et al., 2018; Ogden et al., 2014). Further, 42% of American children are engaging in less than the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity (Troiano et al., 2008). Several treatments have been evaluated that have included goal-setting, self-monitoring, performance feedback, and access to arbitrary tangible rewards (e.g., Hyusti, Normand, & Larson, 2011; Van Camp & Hayes, 2012), but these treatments have often failed Luttikhuis et al., 2009; Nooijan …

The Effects Of Asian Immigrant Parent Implemented Training On Mand Acquisition Of Children With Autism, Xiaohan Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Asian population is proportionally the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States and Asian parents often hold different opinions on family functioning and childrearing. However, there has been no research conducted to examine how to best train parents from Asian immigrant backgrounds to teach manding to their children with autism at home. A behavioral skills training (BST) package was utilized to teach three Asian parents to train their children with autism aged between 6-12 to mand for preferred items. A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was used to evaluate the effects of parent training on parent participants’ implementation of mand training task analysis …

Comparing The Effects Of Feedback Types On Caregiver Training Of Hispanic Parents, Natasha Cintron

Thesis Projects

The purpose of this study was to identify the preference of feedback types used during parent training with Hispanic caregivers. Knowing the caregiver’s preference of feedback formats allowed for the intervention plan to be designed based on caregiver choice and might enhance the likelihood that the treatment will be carried out as designed by the caregiver. A secondary purpose of the current study was to incorporate cultural values, specifically of Hispanic caregivers in the intervention process. By including cultural components in the intervention, practitioners may improve their cultural competency. Parent training protocols and behavioral skills training (BST) was conducted in …

Effects Of First- And Third-Person Point Of View On The Acquisition Of Behaviors Using Video Modeling, Robert Harper Iii

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Video modeling is an evidence-based practice for teaching behaviors and chains of behaviors to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the viewing perspective of these models played a role in influencing a learner’s acquisition of the target behavior or behaviors. An adapted alternating treatments design was used to examine the effects of these different perspectives affected the learning of two similar behavioral chains in a learner with ASD. Video models from both viewing perspectives were provided to the learner with no additional prompting other than brief verbal acknowledgement of a step’s …

Finding Reinforcers: Using Behavior Skills Training Over Telehealth To Instruct Educators To Perform Preference Assessments With Students., Anastasia Yuschak

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Future and current educators working with students in an early childhood education setting should use positive reinforcement for their students to increase behaviors. If proper assessment of student preferences is ignored reinforcers used in a classroom will prove to be insufficient. The present research sought to determine the feasibility of using behavioral skill training (BST) over a telehealth platform to teach paired stimulus preference assessments to educators. The feasibility of this platform is evident by the rapid skill acquisition and mastery of two preschool educators who accurately completed the component skill necessary to develop a preferential hierarchy. This paper will …

The Effects Of Reinforcer Magnitude And Distribution Of Preference For Work Schedules When Working On Skill Acquisition Tasks, Valencia Pankey

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The present study's purpose was to examine preference for continuous versus discontinuous work schedules as the magnitude of reinforcement is manipulated. The magnitude of reinforcement was manipulated in the initially preferred work schedule, while the magnitude of reinforcement was held constant throughout the study for the other work schedule. The participant used the work schedule while working on math skill acquisition tasks. The participant was exposed first to the different work schedules and then was given a choice to choose a work schedule. The chosen work schedule was then used for that work session. The participant showed an initial preference …

Better Together? Effects Of Dyadic Collaboration On Intertemporal Preference, Emily Edgington

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Abstract

Intertemporal choices have been researched extensively in the context of individual choices. However, empirical evidence is absent regarding intertemporal preferences when two individuals collaborate on a choice task. This study aimed to compare the rates of discounting under the condition of dyadic collaboration and individual decisions. Furthermore, this study examined the collaboration sessions in an online video conferencing platform. Results showed a strong, positive correlation between average individual discounting rates and corresponding dyad rates of discounting. The findings of this study should be considered when making intertemporal decisions.

Key Words: delay discounting, group decision-making, online collaboration

The Effects Of Video Prompting In Completion Of Activities Of Daily Living For Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injury, Jessica Hiter

Masters Theses, 2020-current

According to the Brain Injury Association of America (2020), more than 3.5 million experience acquired brain injuries (ABI) every year in the United States. With improving medical treatment, more individuals are surviving ABI; however, many rehabilitation facilities focus on the physical abilities of the individual rather than regaining independence in daily living skills. Video models have been used with success to teach daily living skills to individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, however, little research exists on the use of different types of video models to teach those skills to individuals with traumatic brain injury. The purpose of the present …

A Review Of Behavior Analysis In Education, Devon A. Warner

Capstone Projects

Most education research in applied behavior analysis (ABA) is specific to early learners, which presents significant opportunity to better determine the effectiveness of various instruction methods for college-aged learners (CALs). Within the context of pedagogy, or method of teaching, ABA is the scientific study of the effect of instructional techniques on student behaviors. The available research for college-aged learners is scattered, non-definitive, and has gaps over time. Despite declension over the past half-century, research examining evidence-based practices in education has identified multiple approaches to help instructors manage and improve individual student behaviors and academic performance for CALs. In this review, …

Cue-Reactivity And Smartphone Dependency, Collytte Cederstrom

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: Although Cue-Reactivity was originally developed and used with substance addictions, there has been development and validation of cue-reactivity paradigms with behavioral addictions. Concurrently, there has been a rise of literature and research into Smartphone dependency, a type of behavioral addiction. However, there has not been a study looking into cue-reactivity in conjunction with smartphone dependency. Therefore, the current study was developed to create and test a cue-reactivity paradigm for smartphone addiction to better understand the learning principles behind it. Since most individuals do not realize the severity of their dependence on the device, it is important to have definitive …